By ALYSSA HADDAD
Staff Writer
President Obama’s applause-filled State of the Union Address on Tuesday was charged with high hopes for the new year. The president discussed several topics, including the ever-present problem of the economy, along with education, minimum wage, gun laws, health care, and the war in Afghanistan.
One of the president’s main focuses was on education reform, by providing “every child access to a world-class education.” In the past year, Obama claimed that in the last year, he has worked to reform student loans and help states raise expectations and performance, and as a result, there are now more students than ever who are in the process of earning a college degree. In order to encourage education in America to continue moving forward, President Obama hopes to offer first-rate education for every four-year-old preschool student, in order to enact quality education in Americans at an early age. In addition, the president has plans to connect high schools with colleges, as well as employers, in order to provide them with hands-on training and experience to lead to better jobs and careers where a qualified workforce is in demand. Essentially, in regards to education, President Obama’s plans for 2014, according to his claims in the State of the Union Address, are to make high-quality education more affordable, and to also help Americans who either need to go to college, or are trying to find jobs after they earn their degrees.
President Obama also briefly reviewed the inequality between men and women in the workplace. “Today,” he explained, “women make up about half our workforce, but they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. That is wrong, and in 2014, it’s an embarrassment. Women deserve equal pay for equal work.” The president stated that women who are paid the same wage as men to do the same job will continue to drive the economy forward. Furthermore, the wages of women are comparative to minimum wage workers, on the grounds that when both are paid adequately, their efforts will help the economy, by giving people more money to spend and advancing businesses. The president hopes to offer $10.10 as the standard minimum wage in the upcoming year.
Finally, the president discussed the war in Afghanistan, and his plans to end it within the year. President Obama declared that “Today, all our troops are out of Iraq. More than 60,000 of our troops have already come home from Afghanistan. With Afghan forces now in the lead for their own security, our troops have moved to a support role. Together with our allies, we will complete our mission there by the end of this year, and America’s longest war will finally be over.” Moreover, he brought up strategies to integrate soldiers comfortably back into a civilian lifestyle by providing them with health care, including mental health care, and training and education for jobs.
President Obama’s State of the Union Address demonstrated his high expectations for this year, and many of his arguments are crucial and would immensely improve the state of America.Hopefully, his continuing battle with Congress will not prevent the actuality of these practices in 2014, and by this time next year, a major improvement is made on America’s current state.
